Deciphering Old Weber Gas Grill Serial Numbers

The following information pertains to grills made for the U.S. market. Some variations may exist for grills sold outside the U.S. and are noted below.

1985 to 1992

Weber did not code date information into the serial numbers of Genesis/Spirit grills made during these years. However, some owners report finding separate date stickers attached their grills, so you may want to look for that on early gassers.

The first-generation Genesis 1-5 grills had a serial number in this format:

_# 999999

_ was L for liquid propane or N for natural gas
# was the model number:

1 is the Genesis 1
3 is the Genesis 2
7 is the Genesis 3
4 is the Genesis 4
5 is the Genesis 5

999999 was the serialized number

The smaller Genesis XX, XXI, and Jr. models added an S before the L or P and were either S_1 999999 or S_2 999999, for example SL1 123456.

My 1991 Genesis 2 propane grill has a serial number L3 162105. L = propane, 3 = Genesis 2. The only reason I know it's a 1991 grill is because I remember the year I bought it! And don't be confused by the "1990" shown as part of the ANS designation. That's the gas safety standard to which the grill was built, not the year of manufacture.

1993

In 1993, Weber introduced the second-generation Genesis 1000-5000 grills. To differentiate these grills from earlier models, they added a K before the L or P and kept the same 1/3/7/4/5 model designation. So KL1 16527 is a Genesis 1000 LP grill. The Genesis 5500 (a built-in natural gas grill) used PMN instead of K as its designation for "Permanent Mount Natural Gas". The Spirit 500/700 used a P instead of a K.

Note: I have seen an example of a Genesis 5000 sold in Canada with serial number CL5 1844. L indicates propane, 5 indicates model 5000; I assume that C represents Canada. I have also seen a Genesis 2000 sold in Norway with serial number EK2 1338...which seems to break all the rules.

Weber only used the K designation on Genesis grills during 1993, so if you have one of these grills, it has to be a 1993 model year grill.

Here's an example of a 1993 Genesis 1000 with serial number KL1 18484:

1994

Starting in 1994, Weber introduced the two-letter AUTHORIZED date code and started using it on gas grills and owner's manual to indicated model year. See How To Determine The Age Of Weber Grills & Smokers for info on Weber date code schemes for charcoal and gas grills.

Here's an example of a 1999 Genesis 2000 grill with serial number EE 151074:

Thanks to TVWBB member Dave Weaver for providing some of this Weber insider info on how to decipher old Weber gas grill serial numbers.

Chris:
I just picked up a Gensis E310 today. The serial number starts with "AU" which would indicate it is a 2012 model on the TVWBB.com "Deciphering Old Weber Gas Grill Serial Numbers" page. However, when I punch that serial number in on Weber.com to get the owners manual and schematics, it says it is a 2013 model. Any idea for the discrepancy between the two?

Chris:
I just picked up a Gensis E310 today. The serial number starts with "AU" which would indicate it is a 2012 model on the TVWBB.com "Deciphering Old Weber Gas Grill Serial Numbers" page. However, when I punch that serial number in on Weber.com to get the owners manual and schematics, it says it is a 2013 model. Any idea for the discrepancy between the two?

FYI: the full serial number is: AU 0740579

Almost need to sticky this. The search on Weber's site is really only meant to get you to a parts diagram/manual relevant to your grill. 2012 and 2013 grills are identical IIRC, so there's no need for Weber to have separate schematics for each year or every model.